USB Universal Floppy Disk controller

[Tony Duell]

> These are easily programmed using zero-cost development software you
> can download from the Xilinx web site, and a simple parallel port
> cable you can build yourself easily.

The software may be 'free', but the machine to run it on, and the OS to 
run it under, most certainly aren't. And I do have an objection to 
trusting my design to a piece of binary-only software that I have no easy 
way of checking if it's doing the right thing (it's very difficult to be 
sure a CPLD or FPGA is doing the right thing under _all_ conditions).

I would mind if they'd properly document the chips so I could write my 
one CAD software if I wanted to. But they don't. AFAIK there is no 100% 
documented CPLD or FPGA available (100% documented meaning you can go 
from design to chip without proprietary software or a proprietary 
programmer).

Having hand-wired TTL running at over 50MHz and ECL at at least twice 
that, I'll stick to ways I can debug and that I know work. I've got 
enough TTL to last me for quite a time...

-tony